Dissonance
by Linneai
Summary: When a mysterious force begins to move the galaxy and pushes it into conflict, the thin line between light and dark will disappear. In a war without good and evil, who will be victorious? AU, many OCs.
1. Prologue

**In order to introduce the readers more quickly to this AU, there will be a single non-canon fact that is related to the chapter in the header of every chapter. Here is the first one:**

 **The Celestial War (or the Celestial Civil War) was a war fought before 35,000 BBY between the Imperialist and the Anarchist factions of the Celestial civilization. It ended with an Anarchist victory and was shortly followed by a war with the Rakata, which sealed the fate of the ancient civilization.**

* * *

 **22 BBY, Mortis**

* * *

It was him.

After what he had done thousands of years ago, he showed no sign of regret or remorse. The Father was angered by his lack of emotion, his apathetic attitude. It was as if he didn't care for the trillions of lives lost because of him, for the balance he disrupted that still had not been restored. As the antithesis of his very persona stood before him, he knew that this would be one of his most important trials. Still, he had no intention to let the Slayer have his way. He threw his anger away and calmed himself. He tried, in vain, to find a weakness in the man before him, to formulate a strategy that would grant him victory.

However, his children could not display such cold-bloodedness.

"How dare you come to Mortis, you monster!" The Daughter's anger was evident from the tone of her voice. The skies of Mortis darkened, as her rage reverberated throughout the planet.

The Slayer laughed. "Monster? You, who care not for the lives of the people whose wills you represent, call me a monster? It seems that the Celestials have retained a sense of humor over the years."

"How dare you speak of them, of us, after what you have done? Your very existence is an insult to the Force, and I will end it right here!"

The Daughter fired an orb of pure Force energy at the Slayer, with the explosion from the impact pulverizing a quarter of the Monastery to an extent that there was not the smallest particle of it left. For a moment, the Daughter thought that the fight had been won.

"Was that supposed to be an attack? You insult your ancestors, Celestial."

The Daughter turned around, and, in horror, saw the Slayer standing behind her without a single scratch on him.

"How-"

"Do you really think you are worthy of being the representative of the light side? Your ignorance is beyond curing; and your lack of Force prowess is an insult to your ancestors and your Father alike. You are boring - perhaps the Son will entertain me more."

The Son had been watching, but he had not said a single word. Unlike his sister, he had no regard for the lives that the Slayer took some millennia ago. He knew that he couldn't even dream of defeating the Slayer. However, that didn't mean that he couldn't join him and leave this excuse for a planet. Although he loved his sister, he loved himself more.

"I have no intention to fight you. I do not care about what you did back then. Let me become your apprentice - and teach me about the true secrets of the Force, those that my Father denied me." The Son felt frustrated over having to make such an offer, but the power of the Slayer was simply too great.

"Oh? So you would throw away your pride in your pursuit of greater power? An action worthy of a master of the Dark Side. However, power is worthless if it is not used. What do you intend to accomplish if you evolve past what you are now?"

The Son was surprised by this question. The users of the dark side, regardless of who they were, always strived for superiority and destruction. Surely the Slayer, a true master of the dark side, knew this.

"I would destroy all that I could, and leave nothing behind."

The Slayer smiled. "I presume you have no plans for after the destruction?"

"Plans? Destruction itself is my goal - I seek nothing else."

The Slayer looked at the Son like an adult would look at a 3-year old child. "I thought you had potential when you offered to be my apprentice, but in the end it seems like you are just another star in the sky. If you truly believe the dark side is about destruction, you are easily more ignorant than your sister."

The Son, like the Daughter, was shocked. Not at the Slayer's unbelievable power, but at his strange philosophy that he could not comprehend. He had never been held in contempt like he was now, not even by his Father. There was no mistaking that the Slayer was a master of the dark side - he could feel the intense dark aura around him. So what was the reason for his expression, for his disappointment?

"Why do you think my answer is unworthy?"

The Slayer pondered for a second whether he should take the time to explain this to a dead man, but he saw no reason not to. "The light and dark sides of the Force do not represent good and evil. They represent conservation and dynamism. For a follower of the dark side, if there is no change in the universe, that universe is worthless. And yet, the universe you envision is the very definition of stagnation. To a true user of the dark side, your dream would be a nightmare. You are unworthy of your title, like your sister. If you had proven to be worthy, I would have spared your life; but as you are now, you are nothing more than an obstacle."

The Son and the Daughter saw the Slayer draw his blade slightly and then sheathe it, accompanied by a flash of blue light.

"As such, I shall have you die here."

It took a moment for the Son and the Daughter to realize that both of their hearts had been pierced by the Slayer in an instant. As they realized, so did they vanish from the universe in an explosion of Force energy.

The Father watched in horror. He never thought such a technique could be used by a human so easily - perhaps he had been in this prison for too long, distant from the reality of the universe. In his weak state, he didn't stand a chance against the legendary assassin of the Celestial War. Although plagued by grief, the Father knew what he had to do.

In a single moment, the Father grabbed the Mortis Dagger and stabbed himself in the heart. Impressed by this act of heroism, the Slayer of the Celestials looked on with respect as the Father's being faded from the universe. As the Father disappeared completely and Mortis started to fall apart, the Slayer mused to himself:

"It looks like things are about to start moving."

* * *

 **The first few chapters can be confusing because of the OCs introduced, but I do not want to deny the reader the pleasure of figuring out certain elements of the story by over-explaining things. A hint: the Origins aren't a new species, they already exist in the Star Wars universe.**

 **For the record, the Celestials are a canon species who were overthrown by the Rakatans in the Celestial-Rakatan War in approximately 35,000 BBY. It is heavily implied in the lore that the Ones have a connection to the Celestials - this connection is solidifed in the story. More about their connection, as well as the Celestial-Rakatan War, will be revealed in later chapters (and maybe another fic set in the same universe).**


	2. 1x01 - The Silver Assassin

**In the days of the Celestials, blades made of Force crystals were the primary weapon of choice among Force users. They faded into obscurity as Force crystals became scarce, being replaced by the Rakatan Forcesaber and weapons made of cortosis.**

* * *

The Ord Cestus medical station had been crucial to the Republic war effort since the Clone Wars began. The most expansive medical station of the Republic, it was responsible for the treatment of the wounded, clone and Jedi alike. Its seamless operation was a must given the number of battles being fought over the galaxy, but the recent brain worm crisis had delayed the arrival of much needed supplies to the station. Because of this, the Republic was forced to requisition supplies from private corporations that were situated close to the area until they could gather the necessary items themselves. The ships containing the requisitioned supplies safely made it to the station and had completed landing a moment ago. However, as these corporations weren't very trustworthy, the security in the hangar was tighter than ever.

"Sir, the supply ship has completed its landing process."

"Security scans?" Scanning the ships before allowing them permission to land was common procedure, but the tension made the captain ask regardless.

"All clear, sir."

The captain was still suspicious, but he had good reason: the ship had arrived three days earlier than expected. It was rare for the schedule for shipments to be off by even one or two hours, but three days? There was definitely something odd about this shipment. "Open the cargo hold, and be on guard."

"Understood."

The cargo hold slowly opened, but there were no supplies. Instead, what seemed like to be a man of average height was standing inside. His black robe made it impossible to see any more, as his face and body was completely covered by it. He held a blade in his right hand.

 _I knew something like this would happen._ The captain felt slightly relieved that his suspicions were not misplaced, but the problem at hand had to be dealt with. He would follow the standard procedure and see where it leads. "Identify yourself."

"Where is the Mirialan?" His voice was calm despite being surrounded by hundreds of clone troopers, all of them pointing their guns at him.

 _The Mirialan? Could he be referring to Commander Offee?_ "I am asking the questions here." the Commander asserted. "Identify yourself, or you will be blasted into pieces before you can take one step."

"I will not ask again. Where is the Mirialan? If you spare me the effort of looking for her, I will make your deaths painless." His voice was unusually intimidating.

The captain was surprised at the unusual confidence of the man, but this was not the time to get lost in feelings of surprise. He had clearly refused to identify himself, and there was only one course of action to be taken now. "Troopers, fire!"

With that order, a hundred clone troopers fired simultaneously on the mysterious man. The resulting blast was comparable to that of a thermal grenade, and the ship itself melted from the heat of the explosion. There was no trace of the man left.

"That must have pulverized him -" The captain's thought process was interrupted by something that looked like a shadow quickly moving through the troopers.

In a moment, the limbs and heads of every clone trooper in the room, save the captain, was cut off; and the hangar was soaked with blood. Before the captain could react, the shadowy figure stopped in front of him.

 _If I am dying, I will at least take you with me._ Just before the diagonal thrust of the man pierced his neck, the captain pressed the button on the thermal detonator he had been holding in his hand, and the hangar burned.

* * *

"General Fisto, we have a security breach in Hangar 4." The tone of the trooper's voice indicated that the breach was a very serious one.

"What happened?"

"It seems that all of the troopers stationed there have been killed, sir."

 _All of them?_ "Could you confirm the numbers of the enemy?"

"Only one, sir."

Kit Fisto paused. There was only one way that could happen - the person was a powerful Force user. He couldn't think of any reason why a Separatist Force user would infiltrate this station alone, but this was no time to be absolved in thought.

"Is he still in the hangar?"

"No, sir. He has moved inside the station."

"Can we track his movements through the security system?"

"The security system has malfunctioned, sir, along with the communications system."

This wasn't a coincidence. He had somehow caused the systems to malfunction. Kit Fisto gulped in fear for the first time since the Battle of Geonosis. If they couldn't track the movements of a Force user of his caliber, all they could do was to wait around for their death. His feats meant that this man was more powerful than Fisto himself, and they had no idea of his whereabouts. Kit Fisto tried to sense him through the Force, but it did no good. _Of course that won't work. If it would, he wouldn't be able to infiltrate in the first place._

In any case, if they had no idea of his whereabouts they had no chance of avoiding significant damage. "Do we know anything about his motives for infiltrating this station?"

"He mentioned something about a Mirialan, sir."

 _Mirialan? He must be talking about Barriss Offee. She is in a room close to here, but far from Hangar 4 - I should get there as quickly as possible. If luck is on my side, I won't encounter the infiltrator._ "He might have been talking about Commander Offee. She should be resting in her room right now. I will go to her room immediately. Take care of things here."

"Understood, sir."

* * *

The sound of battle coming from the outside woke Barriss up.

 _What is all this commotion? Are we under attack?_ Barriss closed her eyes and reached out through the Force to get a glimpse of the situation outside. She couldn't sense any enemies, but to her horror, she saw that the clone troopers in front of her room were dying one after another. The enemy must have been evading her Force sense ability, and he was just behind the door. _I don't have any weapons. If I open the door now, I will get killed for sure._ Barriss decided to hide her presence and stay in the room. Just as she was about to send a distress call, she heard a voice.

"Stop!"

The voice was Master Fisto's. However, it was unusually desperate. The tone of the voice only increased Barriss's worries - just who was it that was attacking them? Barriss decided to continue observing through the Force. She hadn't fully recovered yet - as she is now, she would only get in the way of Master Fisto.

Barriss heard the sound of a lightsaber. It was Master Fisto's.

"If you wish to challenge me, do it when you can use the Force properly." As soon as Barriss heard those words, the midi-chlorians inside Kit Fisto's body suddenly vanished. Barriss could no longer sense any Force sensitivity from him.

 _That's impossible. There is an ancient technique that can cut one off from the Force, but to execute it so quickly?_ Barriss realized that they were no match for this man, but there was no escape from the room other than the door.

"What did you...do to me?" The voice was Master Fisto's, but it was sickly. Anyone hearing that voice could tell that he had barely survived what was done to him.

"What use is there in a dead man knowing that?" Barriss heard a scream, accompanied by the voice of a blade slicing through flesh. Kit Fisto had fallen.

Before Barriss could do anything, the door opened and revealed a man in black robes holding a blade covered with blood. Barriss couldn't sense his presence in the Force, even when he was standing right in front of her.

"There you are."

The man slowly walked towards her. As he raised his sword, it began to emit a bright yellow light akin to the blade of a lightsaber. Barriss tried to use the Force to push the man away, but found that she couldn't use her Force abilities. She could only watch as the man thrust his sword towards her, and the sword pierced her heart.

Barriss felt excruciating pain, one of a magnitude she had never felt before. Even with her Jedi training, she was unable to endure it. Her entire body paralyzed, Barriss fell to the ground, and the world faded into darkness.


	3. 1x02 - Confronting the True Self

**When used by proficient Force users, blades made of Force crystals have the ability to strike at a person's soul. Wounds of the spirit cause intense pain, and if grave enough can result in the spirit's complete annihilation instead of it becoming one with the Force.**

* * *

Barriss Offee opened her eyes to find herself standing inside complete darkness.

 _Where am I? If I remember correctly, I was in the medical station, resting in my room. How did I get here?_

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Barriss shouted.

"Only you are." This voice - it was her own voice.

"What do you mean? How can you speak in my voice?" Barriss' confusion mixed with her fear gave her voice an anxious tone.

"I am you, and you are me. The only one here is you. We are one, so our voices are the same." Although the voice was Barriss', it was calm and composed.

 _I don't have time to deal with this, I should get out of here as quickly as possible._ "Do you know where we - I mean, where I am?" Barriss corrected her question to be in accord with the opinion of this voice.

"You are in the place where you will confront your true self."

Barriss didn't understand what the voice meant. It didn't seem like this voice would give her reasonable answers; but the voice was all she had at the moment, her only tangible hope of getting out of this strange place. She thought she would do as the voice says and see where it leads. "What do you mean by 'my true self'?"

"You will know when you have confronted it."

"How do I confront it, then?"

"Simple."

* * *

Barriss suddenly found herself in Nar Shaddaa, standing amidst the crowd of people walking around her. She could feel the moon through the Force - this was no illusion. Suddenly, she heard the voice speak to her again.

"You are in Nar Shaddaa. A man with the appearance of a beggar walks up to you and asks you for money. What do you do?"

Before Barriss could reply, a man wearing ragged and dirty clothes appeared from inside the crowd and walked towards Barriss.

"Could you please spare 5 credits? I beg of you, please!"

Barriss suddenly felt a metal coin in her right hand. She raised it to see a coin worth 5 credits. Without thinking, she extended her arm and gave the coin to the man.

"Thank you, I don't know how to repay you!" The man's happiness evident from his expression, he left as quickly as he had came, vanishing into the crowd.

"You chose to give him the money." The voice jolted Barriss back to her senses.

"Of course I did. What is this about? Are you the one doing this?" Barriss' anxiety grew with each impossible feat the voice seemed to pull off.

"Why?"

The voice seemed insistent on not answering any of her questions, so Barriss decided to stop asking. "He was in need of help, and I helped him. It is the way of the light, the way of the Jedi."

"Every choice has its consequences. Walk forward, and turn to the first street on your right. You will find the consequences of your choice there."

Barriss thought about trying to run off, but the prospect of returning to the dark void made her drop the idea. She walked forward, just like the voice said, and turned to the right.

"What am I supposed to -" Barriss' question was cut short by a corpse on the ground. The fresh blood under him implied that he had not been dead for long. On a second look, Barriss recognized the man. It was the beggar who asked her for money just a moment ago. Too horrified to speak, all Barriss could do was to look at the corpse.

"This is the result of your choice." Once again, the voice snapped Barriss out of her horror, turning it into anger and frustration.

"What do you mean? How could this possibly be the result of me helping him?!" Barriss shouted.

"You are mistaken if you think what you did was helping him."

"Stop speaking so cryptically and explain yourself! I gave him money in his time of need - how is that not helping?!"

"Nar Shaddaa, like any other place in the galaxy, is filled with jealousy and greed. Such emotions become only more intense as you have to struggle for your survival. If such a person acquires a sum of money too large for his own good, he will undoubtedly become the target of others like him."

"What should I have done then? Are you suggesting that I should have abandoned that man and let him starve?!"

"The universe is not merciful enough for a good solution to exist to every problem. Sometimes, the best solution available involves commiting an act that doesn't agree with your ideals in order to avoid a worse outcome. In this case, by giving the man money you shortened his life significantly. Knowing what you do now, would you give the man money if the same scenario was to happen again?"

Barriss wanted to disprove the voice, to prove that her choice was correct, but she knew that the voice was correct. Although it pained her to accept that she had been wrong, nothing would come out of being stubborn. "No, I would not."

"That means you are one step closer to your true self. Let us proceed."

* * *

The scenery changed once again as Barriss found herself on the bridge of a battleship.

"9.000 people each in two battleships. These are the only survivors of an attack on a Republic medical station, and you are in charge of them. You are being pursued by Separatist battleships faster and stronger than yours on the hyperspace route, and they will catch up to you before you make it to safety. You are far from any Republic fleets that could help you. What do you do?"

Barriss thought about it for a minute, but couldn't find any solution. If she did nothing, the Separatists would destroy both ships. However, she couldn't find any feasible course of action. Help wouldn't make it in time, and trying to accelerate the ships further had a high risk of overheating the hyperspace drive as she learned during the war. No matter how hard she thought, she couldn't find a solution that would save everyone.

"I don't know," she said. "No matter how much I think, I can't find any solution."

"That is because you aren't thinking correctly. You do know the solution, but because of your ethical disposition you aren't considering it. Embrace your true self without restricting yourself. The solution will then become apparent."

What could it be trying to say by "embracing your true self"? While Barriss was thinking about that, she remembered the voice's words that good solutions sometimes did not exist. She had been unable to find a solution that would save everyone. Assuming such a solution did not exist, it meant that she had to abandon the idea of saving everyone and focus on saving only some of the passengers. She recalled how hyperspace collisions between two ships could result in devastating explosions.

That was it - that was the answer. She was surprised how quickly she thought of such an atrocious thing. A Jedi would never consider resorting to such methods, and yet she had done it so easily. Was this what the voice meant by her true self? In any case, she didn't want to waste time thinking about any of it now.

"I turn one of the ships around and send it in the opposite direction on the hyperspace route. As the Separatists are following us on the same hyperspace route, the ship I sent back and a Separatist ship will collide, and the resulting explosion will destroy the rest of the Separatist fleet." It was not only her thinking process that was unusual - she also was able to state this idea without any sign of doubt. For a moment, Barriss was afraid of herself, but the feeling quickly disappeared.

"Correct. In this situation where there is no good solution, you chose the best one available. If you hadn't sacrificed half of the survivors, all of them would have died."

There was a moment of silence.

"In any case, our business here is over."

* * *

The battleship vanished, and Barriss found herself in the black void once again.

"Was this what you meant by embracing my true self?" Barriss asked.

"Yes. On the outside, you appear to be a devout follower of the light, one who would never stray from its principles - no doubt an image formed in the long time you spent as a Jedi trainee. However, a true follower of the light must acknowledge that sometimes deeds that appear to be evil must be committed for the greater good. Your true self is willing to commit the most unspeakable of acts for this cause. When you accept that actions hold as much value as the results they lead to, your image of a false follower of the light disappears, and your true self manifests."

Barriss remembered her childhood, when she was criticized by her masters for being "impulsive". Over time, she suppressed that side of her and became a true Jedi - or so she thought. What the voice was saying implied that the Jedi were not true followers of the light. Barriss wanted to argue, but once again, the voice wasn't wrong. In fact, she had thought that way deep down, that the Jedi did not follow the way of the light. The situation had only got worse with the war, as the Jedi were forced onto battlefields around the galaxy.

"So what you are saying is that those who think they follow the way of the light by helping everyone are in fact causing harm and not good?"

"Exactly. You have witnessed the biggest example yourself. The Jedi protected the Republic against the Separatists, but the Separatist worlds all had reasons for seceding from the Republic. Had the Republic acknowledged its corruption and let the secession happen, there would be no need for the war to occur. The Jedi undoubtedly think they are doing the right thing by protecting people from the Separatist army, but what they are doing is nothing more than ignoring the wills of the people living on the Separatist worlds and the clones in their own army alike. They have lost sight of the light long ago."

Barriss kept quiet, listening carefully. It was as if the voice was expressing her own thoughts that she had suppressed for all this time.

"Now, remember the lives that were lost in this war. The planets whose surfaces were ravaged. The young Jedi Padawans who died on battlefields they were never meant to be at. Remember whose fault all of it is for not intervening in the Republic's faulty policies for all this time, while they claimed to be servants of the light."

Barriss looked around her to see that she was standing before the door of the Jedi Council room.

"You are in the Jedi Academy on Coruscant, steps away from the Jedi Council room. Behind the door are those who are responsible for the atrocities that happened so far in the war, and the atrocities that will happen from now on if they are not stopped. What do you do?"

Barriss had decided. She would no longer let those who used the name of the light to wage their wars do as they please. She felt her lightsaber in her hand, ready to be drawn at any time.

She raised her lightsaber, and opened the door.

* * *

Barriss woke up in what seemed to be a cave. It felt like she had been sleeping for a lifetime. She suddenly remembered. She had been stabbed through the heart! She checked to see if there was a wound, but there was none. While trying to stand upright, she heard a voice:

"You have finally woken up."


End file.
